Democrats can swing Georgia, Dean says

Saturday

Jul 26, 2008 at 11:30 PM

Aldo Nahed

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean is rallying Southern voters after 40 years of Democrats not showing up at the polls, he said.

Dean is on a Southern bus tour to register voters so they can cast ballots in the general election Nov. 4 for Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Dean's tour included Saturday stops in Savannah, Macon and Atlanta.

"Georgia matters," he told about 100 people gathered Saturday morning at the YMCA on West Broad Street.

Some people, clipboards in hand, were ready to begin canvassing the area for unregistered voters.

"The South has changed a lot in the last 40 years, and the Democratic Party has changed a lot in the last 40 years," Dean said. "The Democrats have always stood for hard-working people who want opportunity."

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Dean addressed voters' concerns - gasoline prices that have soared most of the year, jobs, education, health insurance and the war in Iraq.

"We can do better in this country, and we do have a real choice," he told the crowd of Obama supporters.

The former Vermont governor asked the volunteers to go out three times between now and the Nov. 4 election and knock on 25 doors each in their neighborhoods.

"I'm not only talking about knocking on doors but talking to human beings," he said. "We need the turnout in Georgia."

The last time Democrats carried Georgia in a presidential election was in 1992, when Bill Clinton defeated incumbent George H.W. Bush.

Jack Goodwin, 21, who was at Saturday's rally, is one of dozens of young and energized volunteers eager to canvas for Obama.

"He's going to work for people who are losing their jobs," Goodwin said of the Democratic standard-bearer, a U.S. senator from Illinois.

But there were three people standing on the sidelines waving homemade signs that read "Drill Now." They are opposed to an Obama presidency.

"I'm tired of empty change and empty hope," said Martin Sullivan, a local Republican who wants Democrats to allow a vote on coastal drilling. "John McCain stands for real solutions. He's been there, and he knows, and he's ready to be a leader from day one."

Democratic congressional candidate Bill Gillespie hopped on the bus after Dean's speech. Both were going to another voter rally in Macon.

"I'd like us to have a viable, alternative economy that relies on clean technology," Gillespie said. "We can't fix anything until we leave Iraq."

Christie Fisher, an Obama and Gillespie supporter, has put off working until after the election. She said she volunteers about 15 hours a day, campaigning for her candidates.

"This is the first time in my life I gave up everything to participate," Fisher said. "I think one person can make a difference."

After his speech, Dean spoke to reporters about his Southern bus campaign. "You can't win Georgia if all you do is go to Atlanta," he said. "Our goal is to register half a million people. If we register half a million people, we have a chance in Georgia."